Random Picker & Raffle

Pick a random name or item from a list for raffles, classroom cold-calls, standup facilitators, and giveaways — entirely in your browser.

Who this is for

Anyone who needs to pick fairly and be seen to do it: a giveaway with a list of entrants, a teacher cold-calling without always landing on the same students, a standup picking who facilitates, or a team choosing where lunch comes from. Paste the names, spin, and the choice is made by the machine rather than by whoever was holding the pen.

How to use Random Picker & Raffle

1. Paste one name (or item) per line into the list box.
2. Choose how many winners you want.
3. Optionally keep winners out of future spins.
4. Press Spin and announce the result.

Worked examples

Example 1. Classroom: paste student names, pick one for the next question.

Example 2. Stream giveaway: paste chat entrants, draw three winners with remove-from-pool on.

Example 3. Team ritual: rotate who runs standup by spinning the full roster each morning.

Fairness

Each remaining entry has an equal chance. Selection uses crypto.getRandomValues when available so draws are not biased by a weak pseudo-random generator. Duplicate names can be collapsed first if you enable that option.

Common mistakes

Leaving duplicates in the list. A name that appears twice has twice the chance, which is fine if you meant it as a weighting and unfair if it was a copy-and-paste slip — check the pool before spinning. Drawing several winners one at a time without removing the previous one is the second, which can hand the same person both prizes. The third is pasting a list with a heading row, so "Name" quietly becomes an entrant.

Tips

Set the number of winners and draw them in one go rather than spinning repeatedly — it is faster and it removes any question about whether earlier winners stayed in the pool. Keep the spin animation on when an audience is watching, since a visible draw is more convincing than a name simply appearing, and turn it down to nothing when you are picking privately and just want the answer. Use Restore pool to put everyone back after a round rather than pasting the list again.

Accessibility notes

Winners are announced as text rather than only by the animation, so the result is available to a screen reader and can be selected and copied without watching the spin. The spin duration is adjustable down to nothing, which matters for anyone who finds movement uncomfortable — set it to zero and the result appears immediately. Entrants are entered as plain text, one per line, in a standard text area.

Limitations (honest)

• Not a legal lottery system or certified audit tool.
• History is session-only in this browser tab.
• Very large lists (tens of thousands of lines) may feel slow on a phone.
• Requires JavaScript in a modern browser.

Privacy

The names you paste and the winners drawn stay in the page. Nothing is uploaded or recorded, so there is no server-side log of who entered or who won — if you need a record of the draw, copy the winners out before you close the tab. Advertising cookies and the choices available to you are covered in the Privacy Policy and in the consent notice shown on your first visit.

Related tools on ToolsAre.Us

If your entrants came from replies to an invitation, the RSVP tool collects them, and the Duplicate Line Remover will clean the list before you paste it here. To time the round itself, use the Stopwatch and Timer. The full tool list is on the home page.

FAQ

More help: Random Picker FAQ · All tools · Contact · About